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Tokyo's Nikkei index plunged more than 3.0 per cent on Thursday as the Bank of Japan shocked markets by holding fire on a fresh round of widely expected stimulus measures, sparking questions about whether it had anything left in its arsenal to kickstart the stuttering Japanese economy.

Wall Street had finished mostly higher on Wednesday after the Fed signalled that it was less worried about international economic and market problems than in March, as the US central bank kept interest rates unchanged.